MISS M A T F I E L D WONDERS £55

That was all. The awful "young man" question was,
of course, in his favourite vein, but apart from that, he
was much quieter and pleasanter than usual in this little
talk. For once he had dropped the jeering and leering
style that made her feel so uncomfortable. He was
friendlier. And she had never thanked him for the
chocolates. She would have to do that when she went
back with the letters.

"Oh, Mr. Golspie," she cried, when he had finished
signing the letters, "I forgot to thank you for the lovely
box of chocolates. I don't know why you gave them to
me-so suddenly, like that—"

"Just to celebrate the little meeting, that's all," he
replied, waving a hand. 'Here's our Miss Matfield,' I
thought, looking a bit uncomfortable because her young
man's landed in the wrong seats.' "

"Oh, did you notice that? It was a stupid business."

"Bit of a box-up, certainly," he said, grinning at her.
"Yes, I saw you all right. You looked very annoyed,
too. Anyhow, I thought something ought to be done
about it."

"Well, it was very nice of you/' she said, though she
was not altogether pleased at the turn the conversation
had taken.

"Ah, but I'm a very nice man," he assured her, look-
ing very solemn for a moment. Then he produced a
short disconcerting guffaw, and waved his hand again.
She turned away. "And another thing," he called out.
She stopped. "You never catch me getting into the
wrong seats. You try me sometime, Miss Matfield, you
just try me. You'd be surprised." He chuckled a little
as she went out. This time she felt hot and uncomfort-
able again, and felt ready to dislike him just as much as